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Is it safe to travel to Egypt in early 2012?Hotels will continue to close one after the other regardless of occupancy because selling rooms at 20% of their price is not going to provide enough cash flow to pay a hotel's salaries. you see everything as very easy because you only see the surface, you need to look deeper before you give information to people who need it, which is not your first time. (you are not supposed to answer everything Yousf, only what you know about)

Nov29

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Is it safe to travel to Egypt in early 2012?and no one will hear of them if they close or open they don't count because they are not members of the Hotels Chamber nor are they officially registered as hotels, two Hiltons have closed and their owner is sitting next to me furious right now

Nov29

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Is it safe to travel to Egypt in early 2012?This is Ahram, do you know who they are? this is the government's newspaper (which does not even mention any 100% anywhere). Real occupancy is less than 20% for 2011. Our high season is 5 months sep.-feb. You can't talk about one week of local tourism and say it has any relation to occupancy rates, this is one week that is always 100% every year (Egyptians only). And by the way there are no small hotels/hostels in the Red Sea those exist only in South Sinai between Dahab & Taba

Nov22

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Is it safe to travel to Egypt in early 2012?There are 5 or 6 hotels in Sharm el Sheikh that have made arrangements with tour operators and sold all their rooms at 12 USD a night just to keep their hotels running and pay their salaries, however a big number of hotels have closed, and the rest are generally empty. As to the city It currently ranges between 7% to 15% occupancy.

Nov22

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Is it safe to travel to Egypt in early 2012?@Yousf please stop assuming things, hotels are empty in Egypt and many have gone out of business. If it was 70% I wouldn't be traveling around the world looking for business to do, I'd be at home taking care of my hotel which is now closed thanks to the ignorance and illiteracy of Egyptians that have overthrown the best government they ever had.

What would be an example of a currently possible overland route from Europe to Israel?Borders with Egypt are working fine as usual (of course you would enter from Taba not Rafah), and relations between Egypt and Israel are more than great as they have always been. Some people in either countries might not love the other, others will always try to ruin these relations and spread rumors on both sides. But thank god both governments have had perfectly good relations for almost 40 years. May they forever live in peace

Which countries are “Muslim countries”?It is usually very hard to find a "reliable" reference for anything in the Middle East, but this one is very easy. Many references (in Arabic) are available on the web, just search for تعريف الدولة الاسلامية. (definition of Muslim country/Islamic state) in Arabic. One of the references which I think is reliable is e-cfr.org/ar/bo/28.doc

Nov16

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Which countries are “Muslim countries”?which is why I started with "To Muslim countries" since it has a fixed clear definition to them. This was the official Saudi Arabian definition, other governments and organizations might have some slightly more restricted definitions but this is the most common and inclusive definition most agreed on. This is what the Salafi groups mean when they say they want Egypt to be an Islamic country, and it is what the Muslim Brotherhood believe when they use the term.

Nov15

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Which countries are “Muslim countries”?My best reference is my personal experience, I am Muslim, I am Egyptian and i have lived in most of the countries i am talking about. However there are many other references but only in Arabic and some of them carry the meaning to a more detailed and complicated level (mostly extremists who want the whole world to be one big Muslim country) you must know these people well and understand their culture to know who is who and what is reliable. Now I'm not saying that i am correct and anyone else is not. The term might not have a fixed meaning in other cultures

Nov15

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Will I get in trouble if I drink beer in public in Dubai?It is true that Ramadan is only for Muslims, You are not expected to fast during Ramadan in any country, but in some places you are forbidden to eat/drink in public. Which can vary from locals giving you "the look" to Authorities stopping you in some very conservative countries, As for Dubai specifically within the UAE, you are free to do what you want inside a Hotel.